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Steve A. Douglas
His Omnibus Bill defeated, Henry Clay left Washington, but the "steam engine in britches" Stephen A. Douglas would attempt to collect the pieces of the failed bill. He concluded that combining the various provisions into one bill had united the opponents of the various measures instead of securing friends on the specific issues. He declared he would get California statehood passed as well as the bill for New Mexico. He would depend on constant off-record negotiations and, something which Clay had lacked, presidential support.
Douglas introduced the California bill on August 1, but soon realized he would have to deal with the Texas issue first. August 5, he and James Pierce (who's incompetence had pierced the heart of the Omnibus bill) presented a bill giving Texas the shape it has today. Texas received more land that it would've under the Omnibus, but it it would receive $10 million from the Federal Government in 5% stock -- which was more than enough to pay off the debt it had banked on paying with the taxes and duties it could raise as an independent republic. President Fillmore provided the stick to the bill's carrot by warning Texas that New Mexico constituted federal territory where Texas had no legitimate claims--warning the Texas militia that armed force would be deployed against any efforts to enforce Texas law in the territory.
The Texas matter pitted the Unionists against the radical southerners who were pushing for secession. One of the latter, David Yulee, declared that the right of expansion, or the Liberty of Growth was indispensable to the slaveholding south. He followed by calling for a new Constitutional Convention to renegotiate the compact of Union to give the southern states control of one legislative body.
The Texans, realizing that there was no better deal coming for them, joined with the union senators for passage of the bill. In a few days, Douglas had achieved a significant result which had eluded Clay over several months. Three days later, he pushed the California issue.
The admission of California would make the slave states a minority. Sam Houston threw in vote for California Statehood. "If we are men, let us meet the difficulties which have come upon us like men." Several southern senators joined as well, and Douglas had scored a second victory.
The New Mexico bill soon followed and passed as well. Douglas had three victories, and left Washington on business to avoid voting on the Fugitive Slave Bill, which provided draconian powers for the recapture of escaped slaves and was aimed at destroying the underground railroad. The bill ultimately passed with an unrecorded vote.
Douglas had succeeded on all points--provided the House passed the bills as well.
The above is summarized from Chapters 24-25 of Fergus Bordewich's America's Great Debate: Henry Clay, Stephen Douglas and the Compromise that Preserved the Union.
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I've already mentioned my next story to be published, "Love under a Purple Sky," in Raconteur Press' Space Cowboys 6: Fission Chips. My copies of Cursed Canyon arrived this week as well. It's chocked full of rip-roarin' tales of rootin' tootin' cowboys and their encounters with the strange, eerie, and weird. You'll want to read my story, "Letters in the Mail," to catch up on the exploits of Rufus and Glen, along with the other accounts of the fantastic and unfamiliar.
